Ever since the Orange County High School of the Arts (now the Orange County School of the Arts) left Los Alamitos High School in 2000 to move to its own location, Los Al had not had a musical performed on its campus. But with new leaders at the helm of its drama program, musical theater finally returned in February with a production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Los Alamitos' new drama director, Stacy Castiglione, joined the school this year after teaching for seven years at Villa Park High School.

“I chose ‘Spelling Bee' because I have been in love with the script since it first came out,” Castiglione said. “The hilarity, the sweetness and the struggle of the ‘underdog' has always been endearing to me. Also, this being the first musical for Los Alamitos in a while, a small cast fits perfectly into our black box space and allows us to try something on a smaller scale.” Her goal is to work up to a large-scale musical within the next few years.

When OSCA left Los Alamitos, the different departments within Los Alamitos' theater arts began focusing on their individual programs as opposed to maintaining a unified theater department. The school's award-winning show choir made up for the loss of a musical theater program in many ways, but the drama department dedicated itself to dramas, without studying song and dance.

“Musicals have always been a hugely important part of my life,” Castiglione said. “Musicals tell the story when mere words aren't enough to convey a feeling or emotion. Emotion becomes too much and all you can possibly do to explain a feeling is to sing about it, or to dance.”

Los Alamitos drama students had followed their own musical theater paths outside the school with local theater programs like the Orange County Children's Theater, Segundo Broadway in the Park, Fullerton College Theater and the South Coast Repertory Summer Program.

“My ultimate goal is to have the other performing arts departments collaborate to create a large-scale musical that would include students from drama, choir, dance and instrumental music,” Castiglione said. “I've never been one to back down, so I'm going to keep trying.”

Nine students from the Los Alamitos show choir and drama program were cast in “Spelling Bee,” pairing their acting skills with singing and dancing in the school's black box theater. Travis Baker, Alejandro Brewer, Ryan Rogers, Alonso Law and Michael Schultz are actors in the school's thespian troupe and advanced drama. Katie Gerdts, Courtney Manly, Bridget DeMaria and Sydney DeMaria perform in the school's show choir.

Baker, who played Chip Tolentino, the Boy Scout who won the previous year's spelling bee, was excited to finally perform in a musical.

“I've been waiting to be in a musical that was part of my school since I was a kid and I watched ‘High School Musical,'” he said.

Gerdts, a senior, who was an OSCA student in seventh grade, decided to transfer to a public high school so she could choose the academic courses that suited her best along with performing in Los Alamitos' show choir.

“To get a drama teacher who wants to tackle a musical is so beneficial to us. She is taking whatever issues come through the process in stride,” Gerdts said.

Castiglione has taught musical theater for more than 10 years. She directed and choreographed the musical and hired outside musical director Sara Weinzetl to coach the performers in the show's songs.

Said Baker: “From a fine-arts standpoint, the choir's focus is singing, and dance's focus is choreography, but when paired with drama, these arts tell a story. Musical theater is a necessary addition to the proper education of theater.”

Auditions were open to the entire student body, and for the first time in nearly 10 years, the campus held singing auditions.

Gerdts played the announcer who hosts the spelling bee, while sisters Bridget and Sydney DeMaria played two excited competitors with very different personalities.

“Drama doesn't get enough recognition in itself,” said Sydney DeMaria, a freshman. “To be with a bunch of students who are older than me has taught me a lot.”

Turning the black box theater into a music-friendly space was a big shift in tech work for Los Alamitos students. With 16 new LED lights and new speakers, the tech crew hooked up the new equipment in less than two weeks. Student producer Chris Cosby maintained the line of communication between the actors and set crew to help make for a smooth transition into a musical production.

Stage manager Haley Schutzenberger and assistant stage manager Jason Gehringer also were instrumental in the process.

Said tech crew member Bianca Pompa: “Being involved in this musical is something that can make us proud to come from Los Alamitos' theater program.”

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